The Handmaid's Tale
2017
Original language: English
- drama
- sci-fi & fantasy
- action & adventure
The story
Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.
What it’s like
Washed-out, sickly green and grey palettes dominate, with the Republic of Gilead's world rendered in muted olive, dull crimson cloaks and stark white bonnets against overcast skies and bare institutional walls. Interiors are lit by flat fluorescents and dim, amber kitchen light, and the camera often stays close and handheld, hovering over faces in tight, uneasy compositions that linger on glances and silences. The score is sparse and tense, with low strings and drones that swell at moments of threat, and quiet diegetic sound, footsteps, whispered prayers, the creak of a door, carries as much weight as the dialogue. Vibe: oppressive, watchful dread with flashes of defiant warmth. Intensity is high: sexual violence, forced intercourse, public executions, torture, and graphic bodily cruelty appear regularly, and the menace is constant rather than occasional. Pacing is deliberate, with slow-burning episodes punctuated by sudden brutality. The central arc follows a woman enduring subjugation while holding onto memory, identity and small acts of resistance, with relationships among the women shifting between solidarity, suspicion and betrayal. Best suited to viewers who want a bleak, politically charged drama and can handle sustained distressing content, not a gentle watch.
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